Businesses

A business is a client company. Everything else in the product hangs off it — proposals, filings, invoices, tasks and emails all point back to a business. Contacts are the people at that company you actually deal with.

Before you start

Nothing. A business can be created directly, or produced automatically when you convert a lead.

Add a client business

1. Open Businesses from the left menu.
2. Click Add Business, top right.
3. Enter the company name, industry, official email and contact number — these four are required.
4. Add GST number, registration number, website and address if you have them. They are optional, and they appear on documents later, so it saves work to fill them in now.
5. Save.

Add the people you deal with

1. Switch to the Contacts tab, or open the business and work from there.
2. Click Add Contact.
3. Enter the person's name, their role at the company, and an email and phone.
4. Mark one as the primary contact. That is who proposals and portal links go to unless you pick somebody else.

Add more than one where it matters — the director who signs and the accountant who sends the records are rarely the same person.

Assign a relationship manager

Open the business and set the relationship manager to a member of your team. That person is who the system escalates to when a client goes quiet on documents, and who is reminded when billable work has piled up unbilled. A client with no manager escalates to the firm owner instead.

Add several clients at once

Use Bulk Import to bring in a spreadsheet of clients rather than typing them one at a time. Check the industry column carefully — industry drives which filings are suggested for that client.

Categories and industry defaults

Industry Defaults sets, per industry, which compliance items a new client of that type should normally carry. Categories are your own labels on a client — you tag a set of clients and can then email exactly that set from the Emails screen.

What the system does on its own

• Filing reminders go to the client for every compliance item attached to them, on the schedule set against the item.
• The monthly compliance calendar is emailed to each client at the start of the month, listing everything due for them that month, with a reminder a few days later.
• Feedback requests go out to a client's contact after work for them is marked done.
• A converted lead brings its details with it — the company and the contact are created for you.

What you cannot do (and what to do instead)

• You cannot add the same company twice. Matching details are refused. If a second entry is genuinely needed — a separate legal entity of the same group — give it its own name and registration number.
• You cannot silence one filing by pausing the client. Pausing reminders on the business stops every reminder to that client. To stop one filing only, pause it on that compliance item.
• You cannot switch on automatic document collection for everybody at once. It is opt-in per client, deliberately — a firm turning it on should reach the clients it chose, not its whole book on day one.
• Logos and cover images must be images under 5 MB. Anything else is refused at upload.

Common questions

A client asked us to stop messaging them for a while.

Open the business and pause reminders, with an end date if it is temporary. Nothing is sent to them until it lapses.

What is the difference between a business and a contact?

The business is the company you bill. Contacts are the people at it. A proposal is addressed to a business but sent to a contact.

We stopped acting for a client. Should I delete them?

Mark them inactive instead. Deleting removes the history behind invoices and filings you may still need.